Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt - Leadership Style

Leadership Style

McKinley was shot by anarchist Leon Czolgosz in Buffalo, New York on September 6, 1901, and died on September 14, leaving Roosevelt to inherit the presidency. Being a few weeks short of his 43rd birthday, Theodore Roosevelt became the youngest person to hold the office. He retained McKinley's cabinet and promised to maintain his predecessor's policies. One of his first notable acts as President was to deliver a 20,000-word address to Congress on December 3, 1901, asking it to curb the power of large corporations (called "trusts") "within reasonable limits." For his aggressive attacks on trusts over his two terms, he earned the label "trust-buster."

Roosevelt relished the Presidency and seemed to be everywhere at once. He took Cabinet members and friends on long, fast-paced hikes, engaged in boxing in the White House state rooms (during one bout of which he was permanently blinded in one eye), romped with his children, and read voraciously.

In 1904, Roosevelt ran for President in his own right and won in a landslide victory.

Building on McKinley's effective use of the press, Roosevelt made the White House the center of news every day, providing interviews and photo opportunities. Noticing the White House reporters huddled outside in the rain one day, he gave them their own room inside, effectively inventing the presidential press briefing. The grateful press, with unprecedented access to the White House, rewarded Roosevelt with ample coverage., rendered the more possible by Roosevelt's practice of screening out reporters he didn't like.